On 31st December 2019, WHO was alerted by several
cases of pneumonia in Wuhan City, Hubei Province of China where the outbreak
began. These cases of pneumonia were then later identified as a symptom of an
unknown virus.
A week later, on 7th January 2020, Chinese authorities confirmed
that the virus, now known as the Novel Coronvirus (nCoV) comes from a larger
group of viruses. This includes Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV).